Venmo Rival Zelle Enlists "Hamilton" Star for Ad Campaign
Venmo rival Zelle shakes traditional advertising up by enlisting Hamilton star Daveed Diggs for its latest ad campaign. They've teamed up with the actor to launch the TV commercials on the biggest stages, including the NFL playoffs. Daveed Diggs joined us on Cheddar to share why he thought the payments company chose him as an ambassador for the brand.
Diggs said his project with Zelle was a rare opportunity for an artists because the company gave him so much creative control over the advertisement. While the process was collaborative, he explains that he had a lot of say in the writing of the lyrics for the raps used in the ads. The Hamilton star expresses that he thinks Zelle is intentionally trying to make sure people know the app is for everyone.
We also discussed the next big projects in Diggs' pipeline. He said he has a film that he has been writing for the last decade going to the Sundance Film Festival. When asked whether he'd return to broadway, Diggs said he would like to continue performing in theater, but broadway is not particularly important to him.
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
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